Highlight: Scored a brace on debut for the Wanderers first team in the FFA Cup match against Wellington Phoenix.

Highlight: He scored a goal in the A-League, Asian Champions League & FFA Cup in the 2016/17 season.

Description: A young striker who made a name for himself after winning the Wanderers Youth League Player of the Year for 2015/16, as well as scoring 5 goals in the Wanderers NPL debut against Spirit FC. His entry to top flight football was a good one, with a decent return of 5 goals in 22 appearances across all competitions in 2016/17. The arrival of Oriol Riera and the good health of Brendon Santalab restricted Scott's first team opportunity in 2017/18, he played just 6 games and failed to score, although he did perform well in the Youth League & NPL 2. In his last year at the club he fell out of favour, did not play a game in the 18/19 season and was released in February 2019.

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Western Sydney Wanderers veteran Brendon Santalab believes team-mate Lachlan Scott is a player to watch this season.

By

Greg Prichard

18 AUG 2016 - 10:39 PM UPDATED YESTERDAY 10:39 PM

â€œLachie has got the world at his feet,â€ Santalab told The World Game. â€œHeâ€™s big, heâ€™s strong, heâ€™s a typical number nine and, to be at this level at his age with his strength and power, I feel that Lachie can take his game to great heights and different levels, most likely overseas.

â€œHeâ€™ll be one to look out for this season, for sure, and heâ€™s in the Young Socceroos set-up as well. Heâ€™s doing great.

â€œLachie scored two goals in the FFA Cup on his debut, so heâ€™s flying high with confidence. He scored another one on Wednesday night when we had a trial game against Canberra FC.â€

Striker Santalab, 33, and Scott have formed a close bond. Scott recently told The World Game how Santalab had taken him aside to offer advice, which the youngster appreciated enormously.

â€œHe said â€˜come and weâ€™ll get a coffee and talkâ€™, so we did,â€ Scott said. â€œWe went to a cafe after training and he talked to me about how to be professional and how to improve yourself and it was very good of him.

â€œHe gave me some really good advice. One of the things he said was how important it was to always be ready. He was talking about whether you know youâ€™re starting or youâ€™re coming off the bench, which he did a lot last season and scored a lot of goals doing.â€

Santalab said he received similar help when he was young and that he wanted to be that same guiding light now.

â€œWhen I was coming through I got help from the older boys and some overseas players as well in the squad I was in,â€ he said. â€œItâ€™s important experienced players like myself guide the young players in the right direction as well.â€

It remains to be seen what the blend up front will be for Wanderers this season, with Santalab very reliable as either a starter or impact player off the bench, Scott developing nicely and Kerem Bulut training at the club and presumably only having to show the right attitude to get a contract.

That would appear to rule out earlier suggestions the club would look for another overseas player as a marquee striker.

â€œIf they sign Kerem thatâ€™s three of us and I donâ€™t think you would sign a fourth,â€ Santalab said. â€œBetween the three of us in the A-League and the Asian Champions League weâ€™re all going to be required at some point. Itâ€™s going to be an exciting year, being part of the ACL again.â€

Santalab said the Wanderers were very encouraged by their pre-season form in trial games and the FFA Cup round of 32 win over Wellington Phoenix.

â€œWe beat Canberra FC 3-1 down there and that made it four wins from four games in pre-season now,â€ he said. â€œBrisbane Roar, Wellington, the Young Socceroos and Canberra FC. Itâ€™s been a great start with what is once again a new squad.

â€œI think to be gelling the way we are already at this stage is a huge positive for us. Weâ€™ve obviously had a number of changes to the squad and thatâ€™s never easy, but weâ€™ve got some great people who have come in.

â€œIt feels like the foreign players who have joined have been here for a few years, so that just speaks volumes for their professionalism and adaptability.

â€œAritz (Borda), Bruno (Pinatares) and Jumpei (Kusukami) have all been heavily involved in what weâ€™re doing. Weâ€™ve been working hard in pre-season on how we want to play and getting them to adapt and so far it has all gone very well.â€